Kukla's Korner Hockey

From the outside, particularly from some media that aren’t regularly in the dressing room or coach’s office, the team has been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism. Some of it is certainly warranted. The Sharks were unable to trade either Thornton or Marleau, and signing the pair to three-year contract extensions with no trade clauses now seems like a mistake. At the very least, Wilson should have left himself with some flexibility there, or made them prove they had what it took to lead a team to another deep playoff run before re-upping them.

There’s more. If a guy like Joe Pavelski is eventually named captain (and he’s probably the best bet), it might cause an awkward situation in that he’ll have two former team captains sitting just a few feet away from his locker stall. The team didn’t add anyone of note other than bruiser John Scott, who likely won’t even be in the lineup half the time. A strong argument can be made, too, that the Sharks only needed to add a few pieces to a team that pushed the eventual Stanley Cup champs to seven games.

But much of that condemnation tends to conveniently forget or gloss over the issue in the dressing room, and that really is the biggest issue of all. Had there not been some sort of change, there’s no reason to believe that the Sharks wouldn’t flame out in the playoffs again, as they have so many times in the past.

Comments

I just get the impression this team has no clue. Todd McLellan is in that locker room every day. He talks to guys regularly (presumably). If he didn’t know this, then he’s heavily to blame and shouldn’t continue to be the coach and if he didn’t know about this, then he’s disconnected and to me, represents the exact problem specified: that it’s a workplace rather than a team.

I have gotten more laughs out of this team over the years and the last five months may be the funniest of all. I still think Wilson saying the team is going to “rebuild” and take “one step back to take two steps forward” is such a joke. He and McLellan touted this “rebuild” since the end of the season. And here we are, four months later and there have been minimal changes to the roster, particularly the core - basically, they let Boyle leave.

So now the solution is, we’ll pretend everyone is “fighting for” the captain position and pretend like everyone can forget everything and when someone else wears the “C” and “A” that the culture is going to be fixed? This team has needed a bold move - or series of bold moves - for years. Instead, they stood pat and now, unable to make any significant roster moves, believe they’ll fix the biggest problem - the culture - by shifting some jersey letters around?

This sounds like two guys that really don’t have a clue. I’ve always viewed Todd McLellan as a great assistant coach but someone who probably isn’t cut out for a head coach position. He hasn’t done anything in San Jose but contribute to their reputation as unable to get it done when it matters. And it is this offseason that has cemented my belief that Wilson and McLellan don’t know what the hell to do and are given way too much loyalty from the ownership.